This. Being there for your baby and even more so, your wife, is incredibly important. In my opinion, claiming that you need to go back to work so that you're "fresh" while your wife struggles at home with sleep deprivation and maybe even more kids is an incredibly pilot...err... selfish thing to say.

I took a few years off when my second was coming along. It was great to be around for all those "first" moments with the kids and we are really close as a result. My oldest starts kindergarten this year, and my youngest starts next year. The itch to get back to flying has me so I am working on getting back into the career now (I turn 40 next year, so I feel like the career clock is ticking). Even though I see a lot of my former co-workers in the majors now, I wouldn't change the decision to be around my kids for these years for anything. I know plenty of guys that stayed in and are super close to their kids too, this is just what worked for me. ...that being said, kids less than 6 months are definitely gremlin eating machines...they are more fun now :D

When my two kids were born, I was there for the birth and about 2 weeks. Inlaws stayed at our house so I could go back to work. Now planning on a third because we are stupid.
The wife and baby will dictate if I'll even take FMLA.

And that's your choice. I chose to stay home for a few months because I felt it was important to bond with the baby. By and large, science agrees that this is a good thing. I'm not saying you have to take that time off. I am saying that we should have a way to receive paid time off for at least a portion of it so that if we want to contribute to our wives' well being and bond with the baby, we have that option. Especially if the in-laws are not an option.